


Bruce Wayne

by wordswehavesaid



Series: Queer Headcanons [4]
Category: DC Animated Universe
Genre: Demiromantic Character, Gen, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-06 08:42:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6747043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordswehavesaid/pseuds/wordswehavesaid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A conceptualization of the character as a demiromantic man.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bruce Wayne

**Author's Note:**

> Hello Batman fans! This is part of a series I did imagining characters from various fandoms as queer, either in identity or sexuality. I’m mostly working off the DCAU (Batman: the Animated Series, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, and Batman Beyond) interpretation of the character, as portrayed by voice actor Kevin Conroy, hence why I placed it in this tag (and because I love the DCAU). But I tried to make it vague enough to apply to other versions of the Dark Knight. Please enjoy!

Bruce, as a child, grew up incredibly loved. He was the sole son of Thomas and Martha Wayne, Gotham’s favorite philanthropists. He wanted for nothing and he was blissfully unaware of the ugliness of the world, of how unspeakably cruel it could be. That came when he was eight years old.

And like that love and family became something of a distant memory. Of course Bruce had Alfred, but it would be years before he could comfortably think of, much less call the man something of a father. And Alfred was much to mindful of disrespecting the Waynes’ memory to serve as anything but butler first and foremost. Bruce was the Young Master, and it was always his decision what course his life would take.

He chose to dedicate his life to stopping the same thing happening to others, the only cause he could think of aspiring to. Years of honing his mind and body, excruciating training and nights of little to no sleep were poured into this mission, and he did not regret a single second of it, only pushed himself further. Bruce knew Alfred wished he wouldn’t go through with it, hoped instead that he might settle down and focus his attentions on the company, on his own life, on finding someone to make him truly happy again.

But Bruce knows equally as much that such a person doesn’t exist, and even if they did he has far more important things to do. He doesn’t trouble himself worrying over finding “the one”, the woman to make him smile again, because such a love…it feels meaningless in the face of what he’s already lost. There’s a different purpose to his life that Alfred, perhaps even his parents, wouldn’t want for him, but he is _certain_ he will _never_ be happy unless he pursues it.

His return to the Gotham limelight is announced with a party, a truly humongous gala meant to cement his reputation amongst the lavishly rich and famous. Bruce finds the attention of most every young woman on him - money and the looks he’s grown into are more than effective draws, he’s sure - and so he plays the part of charming host. He can read people well enough to respond correctly to the cues of laughter and flirtation, despite him not feeling much more than a growing irritation at how the night is slipping him by.

So he takes the best excuse out he can, letting himself be dragged up to his own bedroom, a blonde or a brunet underneath him on the mattress and he really doesn’t remember the details. Sex is sex, a function, another duty to perform as Bruce Wayne, who is then heralded in the papers as Gotham’s resident playboy. He cares little about earning that reputation; this really is all a game to him, a mask that he’s wearing to hide his true self. Only he really knows how much.

But he’s wrong, on two counts. He’s not quite impervious to the allure of companionship. It’s in the hesitance before he claps the handcuffs over Selina Kyle’s wrists, the way his heart clenches painfully watching Diana during a fight until she gains the upper hand - despite her practical invincibility - and a ring he once bought for Andrea Beaumont. Every so often someone slips past his defenses, often under the guise of friendship, and perhaps it’s for that reason he’s always caught off guard. His understanding of how other people pursued love didn’t account for real feelings, only the dazzling galas and blatant desire of a woman desperate for his attention. His resolve that the singular love of another person is non-essential, or at the least not wanted for himself, shakes but does not crumble.

Where he is forced to give up ground, however, is on the love of family. His wards, while never erasing the void in his heart left by the murders of Thomas and Martha, ease some of the pain. At least for a time. Till one by one, they too are gone.

When Bruce is old and alone in the quiet of the Manor, only occasionally does he wistfully think of the women that had been in his life. But he does feel a constant loss, again, for family.


End file.
